People in need of care must also have a minimum level of dignity

VdK President Ulrike Mascher told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” last Thursday that a corresponding constitutional complaint is in preparation. Several model lawsuits are intended to ensure a minimum standard of care as well as fundamental improvements for dementia patients and greater support for home care. Erwin Kress, Vice President of the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD) and spokesperson on the topic of “Autonomy at the end of life”, said: “We are very pleased that the federal government’s care policy, which has been inadequate for many years, is finally being put to the test.” As part of a doctoral thesis entitled “The state’s duty to protect people in need of care” submitted last year, lawyer Susanne Moritz demonstrated that care policy in the Federal Republic of Germany violates the fundamental rights of people in need of care. Incorrect or inadequate mental and physical treatment, neglect and restriction of freedom are the rule rather than the exception. Kress: “The quality requirements and the inspections by the home supervisory authority, which the spokesperson for Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe is now referring to, are not really effective. On the contrary, bureaucratization in these areas is at the expense of the already insufficient care time in the homes.” In addition, health and care insurance stand in each other’s way when it comes to better care. “The main problem, however, is that social issues are only in the name of the major parties. This is also made clear by the annual report that the Paritätische Gesamtverband has just presented,” says Erwin Kress. Politicians in a rich country like the Federal Republic of Germany are unable to find any means of counteracting the serious shortcomings in the care sector and the increasing spread of poverty because they have no interest in doing so, Kress suspects. “The degree of civilization of a society can also be seen in the way it treats those in need of care, the elderly and the poor. They are also human beings who must be accorded a minimum level of dignity. To disregard this is to despise them.”